Statement of Faith

What we believe:




God
The Land of Israel
The New Covenant
The lost sheep of the House of Israel
The House of Judah
The Messianic Age

The Gentile

God

YHVH is an "echad" - a composite unity of three in one: father, son and spirit.
(Deuteronomy 6:4)

The Son is the agency through which the Father created the universe and communicated with the Patriarchs.

(John 1:3; Colossians 1:15)

The Son is the revealed image of the unseen Father. 

(John 1:18; 2 Corinthians 4:4; Colossians 1:15)

The Son became flesh and dwelt among us to take upon himself the wrath that we deserve for our sin.
(John 1:14; John 3:36; Romans 5:8-9; 1 John 2:2)

Through faith in Jesus, the record of our sin is removed and we take on his righteousness.
(Isaiah 53:1-12; Romans 3:24-25; Romans 5:1; Romans 5:8-9; 2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Thessalonians 5:9; 1 Peter 3:18)

The Land of Israel

God is the ultimate proprietor of the land of Israel, therefore God has the right to choose a nation that he will give the land to, as an inheritance.
(Leviticus 25:23)

God chose Abraham. The Abrahamic Covenant secures the inheritance of the land to Abraham. The Abrahamic Covenant is everlasting, enduring, and for every generation.
(Genesis 17:7-9,13; Psalm 105:7-11;Hebrews 6:13-18).

• God renewed the Covenant with Isaac, and Jacob.
• The inheritance of the land therefore belongs to the descendants of Jacob forever.

The land is Holy.
(Zechariah 2:12)

Because the land is Holy, it is subject to becoming defiled and polluted in the same manner as the Temple and Holy objects.
(Leviticus 18:25; Deut 21:22,23; Deut 24:1-4;Jeremiah 2:7; Jeremiah 3:2; Jeremiah 3:9; Jeremiah 16:18; Ezekiel 36:18)

The Torah is comprised of “Mishpat” (Civil law) and “Chukkot” (Ceremonial law). Both are required for residence on the land.
(Deut 4:1; Deut 4:5; Deut 4:14; Deut 5:31; Deut 6:1)

This is because the Torah serves to make Israel “Holy” for the possession of the Holy land.
( Exodus 22:3; Leviticus 11:41-45; Leviticus 19:2,37; Leviticus 20:25,26; Leviticus 20:8; Numbers 15:40; Deuteronomy 14:2;)

Israel receives blessings as a result of obedience to the Torah while residing on the land.
(Leviticus 25:18-22; Deuteronomy 4:1-14; Deut 11:1-7; Deut 26:18-19; Deut 28:1-13 )

Curses result from willful defiance against the Torah while residing on the land.
(Leviticus 26; Deut 27:14-26; Deut 28:15-68; Deut 29:19-25;)

The ultimate consequence of persistent sin is exile.
(Lev 26:33; Deuteronomy 4:26-27; Deuteronomy 28:63-64; Deut 30:18; 2 Chronicles 7:19-20)

However, since God will not break his Covenant, he is faithful to regather Israel back to the land even when Israel is undeserving.
(Lev 26:41-42; Lev 26:44-45; Ezekiel 26:32)

The New Covenant

God does not want Israel to suffer endless cycles of exile from the land, and regathering. Therefore it was imperative for God to remove Israel's rebellion against the Torah, to “make an end to sin” and “bring in everlasting righteousness”.
(Daniel 9:24)

The purpose of the New Covenant is to grant Israel a new heart and spirit so that Israel would be inspired from within to obey the Torah.
(Jeremiah 31:31, Ezekiel 11:19 and Ezekiel 36:26-27)

The Hebrew makes it clear, that the New Covenant leads Israel to obey the “Mishpat” and “Chukkot” - the “Civil” AND “Ceremonial” aspects of the Torah.

• "Then they will follow my decrees [Chukkot] and be careful to keep my laws [Mishpat]." - Ezekiel 11:20
• “And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees [Chukkot] and be careful to keep my laws [Mishpat].” – Ezekiel 36:27

With rebellion permanently removed, and Israel in submission to the Torah, God will fulfill his promise to Abraham by allowing Israel to enjoy an uninterrupted stay on the land in peace and prosperity.
(Psalm 37:11; Ezekiel 36:28; Ezekiel 37:25; Jeremiah 32:41; Isaiah 60:2; Isaiah 65:9; Amos 9:15)

The lost sheep of the House of Israel

All 12 tribes of Israel were united under the reign of King David.
(2 Samuel 5:5)

As a consequence of King Solomon’s idolatry, the nation of Israel was eventually torn into two kingdoms: The Northern Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom. The Southern Kingdom consisted of two tribes (the tribe of Judah and Benjamin) and the Northern Kingdom consisted of the 10 remaining tribes.
(1 Kings 11:29-39)

Scripture refers to the Northern Kingdom as the “House of Israel” and the Southern Kingdom as the “House of Judah”.
(Jeremiah 5:11; Jeremiah 11:10; Zechariah 8:13; Isaiah 8:14)

Soon after, God divorced the Northern Kingdom for its unrepentant Idolatry.
(Jeremiah 3:8)

The House of Israel was sent into exile with the following curses: “You shall have no mercy” and “You are not my people”.
(Hosea 1:6-8)

They were “Scattered upon all the face of the earth”, they would venture “to the ends of the earth” as “wanderers among the nations”. Ultimately they would become “Swallowed up” and assimilated. They would forget their ancestry, and become a “multitude of nations”.
(Genesis 48:17-22; Deuteronomy 33:17; Hosea 8:8; Hosea 9:17; Ezekiel 34:4)

Jesus regards himself as a concerned shepherd willing to go great lengths to recover his lost sheep: the “sinners”, the sick, the poor, the broken and the demonically possessed.
(Luke 15:3-7)

Yet there were still “Other sheep” that he intended to find.
(John 10:16)

These “Other Sheep” are revealed as the lost 10 tribes of the House of Israel.
(Matthew 15:24; John 7:3-5)

This is in accordance with Prophecy. The prophet Isaiah declares the Messiah will restore the tribes of Israel back to himself.
(Isaiah 49:5-6)

Jesus was inclined to defy establishment and toss convention upside down. By doing so he was revealing the nature of the coming Kingdom: those who are exalted will be humbled, and those who are humbled will be exalted.
(Psalm 3:34; Psalm 113:7; Psalm 138:6; Psalm 145:14; Proverbs 3:34; Proverbs 29:23; Job 5:11; 1 Samuel 2:8; Isaiah 2:9; Isaiah 2:11; Isaiah 5:15)

Although the 10 tribes once possessed an inheritance, they were abandoned, stripped of their inheritance and sent into the nations with God’s wrath. They were disgraced and humbled in the Old Testament. In the New Testament, God seeks to exalt them, and bring them into his care once again. They are granted mercy, given a purpose, and with their inheritance restored a hundredfold.
(1 Peter 2:9-10)

On the other hand, those who were exalted in the Old Covenant (The Southern Kingdom, AKA “The Jews”) are humbled in the New Covenant. They are blinded to the revelation of Jesus, and are meant to reject the Messiah until the “time of the fullness of the gentiles” has been made complete.
(Romans 11:25)

The purpose of the gentile in the New Covenant, is to spread the testimony of Jesus to the ends of the earth. By doing so, the gospel is allowed to travel the vast distances needed to recover the lost sheep and bring them into Covenant.
(Isaiah 49:6)

After the descendents of the House of Israel are brought into the New Covenant, they will be led by the Holy Spirit to obey the Torah in exile, while residing in other lands.
(Dueteronomy 30:1-8; Jeremiah 31:31-33; Ezekiel 36:26)

When the 10 tribes are obeying the Torah as a result of their membership in the New Covenant and the Holy Spirit they received through faith, God will regather them to the land.
(Deuteronomy 30:1-5; Jeremiah 31:20-30; Ezekiel 36:8-12, 24-25, 27)

Those of Israel who are obeying the Torah in conjunction with a faith in Jesus before the tribulation begins, are sealed as the 144,000. God seals the 144,000 as his “firstfruits”prior to the gathering of Israel to the land.
(Revelation 7:1-8; Revelation 14:1-5)

The House of Judah

The song of Moses encodes the ultimate prophetic template, revealing God’s plan and will for the Jewish people from beginning to end. This is why in Revelation 15, the Apostle John is granted a heavenly vision of the tribulation martyrs playing harps and singing the song of Moses. They will be reciting the words of warning as world events unfold, and watching the Jewish people suffer the consequences for their hardheartedness just as God promised.
(Deuteronomy 33; Revelation 15:2)

Judah will slide into complacency, to eventually abandon God as a result of bounty and privilege.
(Deuteronomy 33:13-18)

They will abandon God and reject “the rock their savior”.
(Deuteronomy 33:15)

This happens as a result of a spirit of a deep sleep and spiritual blindness that God casts onto Judah.
(Isaiah 29:10-12)

God responds to their rejection and “hides” his face, implying a temporary withdrawal of his presence, favor and protection.
(Deuteronomy 33:20)

Paul writes that their rejection of the gospel is for the purpose of allowing the gospel to be given over to the gentile world in order for salvation to spread globally.
(Romans 11:25)

Since Israel provoked God to jealousy by worshipping idols, God seeks retribution by bringing Judah to jealousy through those “who are not a people” - meaning gentiles, and the House of Israel scattered among them.
(Deuteronomy 33:21)

A number of horrors are unleashed: Calamity, famine, pestilence, terror, etc.
(Deuteronomy 33:23-25)

God is even willing to “erase” Judah, but he will not, lest their adversaries believe that they defeated Judah under their own strength apart from God.
(Deuteronomy 33:27)

God resolves to ultimately save his people, but not until they have been utterly exhausted, not until their “strength is gone”.
(Deuteronomy 33:36)

He uses the calamity to provoke Judah and offers the following inquiry: “Now where are your god’s?...Let them rise up to help you!”
(Deuteronomy 33:38)

Finally, when it seems that Judah is without hope and near defeat, God rushes to save them. When God arrives, he reveals himself in a powerful way. Not only to Judah, but to the world.
(Deuteronomy 33:39-43)

When the Lord returns, he will avenge his servants, defeat his enemies and “make atonement for his land and his people”. This will initiate the messianic age.
(Deuteronomy 33:43)

The Lord will gather all of Israel: the House of Israel and the House of Judah to the land.
(Ezekiel 27:21-22)

The Messianic Age

The Lord will return to Israel and stand on the mount of Olives, causing an earthquake that will result in fresh water flowing to and reviving the Dead Sea.
(Ezekiel 47:1-8; Zechariah 47:1-2;)

The Messiah will build a temple and rule from his throne inside, as King and High Priest.
(Ezekiel 37:26,27; Zechariah 6:11-13)

The Lord will enter into the temple through the East gate to dwell with Israel forever.
(Ezekiel 43:1-9)

Survivors will be sent to declare God's glory to the nations and to bring the Israelite's back to the land.
(Isaiah 66:19-20)

The Israelite's will return from lands in all cardinal directions relative to Israel, “From the ends of the earth” and from the most “remote parts of the earth” for a second Exodus.
(Isaiah 43:5-6; Jeremiah 31:8; Zechariah 8:7-8)

This Exodus will be so epic, that the Exodus from Egypt will be forgotten. The Lord will no longer be known as the God who brought Israel out of Egypt, but the God who gathered Israel from the “North and out of all the countries that he had banished them”.
(Jeremiah 16:4-5)

Many gentiles will desire to travel with them.
(Isaiah 56:7-8; Zechariah 8:23)

Then the Lord will take some of the Israelite's and make them priests and Levites.
(Isaiah 66:2 )

The Lord will purify the Levites (indicating that the Levites and the priesthood will become active again) and “he will have men bring offerings”.
(Malachi 3:2-4)

People will come to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices.
(Zechariah 14:20,21)

All the nations will stream to the temple in order to receive instruction of “his ways” and walk “in his paths”.
(Isaiah 2:2-3)

The Lord will “magnify the law and make it honorable”.
(Isaiah 42:21)

The knowledge of the Torah and the word of the Lord will spread from Zion, Jerusalem, and to the world.
(Isaiah 2:3)

God’s law will be made a light to the nations.
(Isaiah 51:4)

“...The isles shall wait for his law”.
(Isaiah 42:4)

Israel will be an “everlasting pride and joy to the nations.”
(Isaiah 60:15)

The gentiles will rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and kings will travel from afar to serve the Lord and Israel. At this time the gates will remain perpetually open in order to allow in the wealth of the nations.
(Isaiah 60:10-11)

The nations that refuse to serve Israel will “perish” and “be utterly ruined”
(Isaiah 60:12)

All who despised Israel will bow down at their feet.
(Isaiah 60:13)

All the gentile nations will be required to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem or suffer a drought on their land.
(Zechariah 14:6)

However in order to enter into the land, the gentile will have to become circumcised.
(Isaiah 52:1)

All Israel will be righteous and they will “possess the land forever”
(Isaiah 60:21)

The Gentile

The Israelite has the inheritance of the Holy land. The gentile does not.

The Torah is divided into two main categories: "Mishpatim", or Civil Law and "Chukkim", known as the Ceremonial laws. While the Israelites are obliged to obey both for the sake of the land, gentiles are only required to obey the Moral elements of the Torah, given that they obey a bare minimum of four restrictions.
(Acts 15:19-29)

The Moral elements revolve around the two greatest commandments:
(Matthew 22:36-40)

• “You shall love the Lord your God”
• “Love your neighbor”

The spirit of the Torah is love. The Christian is therefore led by the Holy Spirit to gradually learn and practice the many challenges and lessons of love: forgiveness, patience, compassion, selflessness, etc.
(Matthew 22:36-40; Romans 13:8-10; 1 Corinthians 13)

If the purpose of the New Covenant is to inspire Israel to obey the Torah so that they may be re-gathered and possess the land forever, how can we make sense of the inclusion of the gentile? What sort of inheritance does the believing gentile possess? Paul provides an answer.

There are three elements of the Abrahamic Covenant:

• The Inheritance: The Holy Land.
• The Promise: Abraham and his descendants would receive the inheritance of the Holy land.
• The Sign: Circumcision of the flesh.

Paul reveals 3 higher “spiritual” elements of the Abrahamic Covenant:

• The Inheritance: “Heavenly Jerusalem” or “Jerusalem above” representing rest from works and justification through a faith like Abraham in Jesus. (Galatians 4:26; Hebrews 12:22)
• The Promise: Abraham and his “Seed” would receive the inheritance of “Heavenly Jerusalem”.(Galatians 3:7-8,13-14,16)
• The Sign: Circumcision of the Heart. (Romans 2:25-29)

Abraham was made justified through faith.
(Romans 4:1-3)

Abraham therefore stands for a process of justification through faith. Since Abraham received the affirmation before circumcision, he is made the father of both the circumcised as well as the uncircumcised (those who are made sons by faith).
(Romans 4:9-13)

Paul refers to this promise of justification by faith as the “promise of the spirit” - it is spiritual and not physical.
(Galatians 3:22,14)

The “Promise of the Spirit” is made available to the gentile in this order:
(Galatians 3:1-16)

1. Abraham received the “promise”
2. It was given to his “Seed” (meaning the Messiah)
3. Through faith in Messiah we become adopted as sons, and therefore we inherit the “promise” as well.

This makes us “Jews inwardly” with the circumcision performed by the spirit, and citizens of “Heavenly Jerusalem” our “Sabbath rest” (rest from works).
(Romans 2:28-29; Hebrews 4:1-10)

Entry into “Heavenly Jerusalem” is the same for the Jew and the gentile: through faith in Jesus.